Chapter 60 The Man in the Straw Raincoat? The Man in the Straw Raincoat!
After packing his bag and leaving the training ground, Chen Mi went to a nearby stall to buy some cooked food, and also packed up corn on the cob, matcha mooncakes, and a whole box of Lin Yuan Ice Spring water.
Knowing that Danheng likes to drink it, I specially bought a lot.
There are very few routes leading to Suiyuan. It is basically a place for fox people to rest and play. Long-lived species rarely venture there, let alone short-lived species like Shen Mi.
However, having fewer of them has its advantages; at least no one will associate them with Danheng.
As Shen Mi followed the route, he encountered many fox-people seeking respite from the heat in the pavilions as soon as he entered Suiyuan Garden. Most of them wore light summer clothes, their tails lazily sweeping the stone benches or hanging down at their sides, their ear tips twitching slightly in the breeze, as if they had just woken up, or as if they had never truly fallen asleep.
The fox-people didn't seem keen on striking up conversations with strangers, especially outsiders like her. Shen Mi merely glanced at them before being met with their polite yet distant gaze, which she quickly averted. She breathed a sigh of relief and hurried along the moss-covered stone path, trying to make as little noise as possible.
However, some fox-people, seeing her carrying a box of Lin Yuan Ice Spring water, assumed she was a new "mountain porter" and waved to her, asking how much a bottle cost. Chen Mi awkwardly smiled and replied, "Not for sale, not for sale."
The fox-man didn't insist. He simply said "Alright," smiled, and let her go. But the look in his eyes when he looked at her was a little strange, as if it were the last time they would meet.
Shen Mi was startled by her own strange thought. Wasn't this the last time they would meet? Luofu was so vast; who knew where the fox-person she met lived, what his name was, or whether he usually liked to go out? Even if they met again, it would depend on perfect timing, location, and circumstances—they would have to bump into each other again.
She tried to comfort herself by not overthinking it, but a strange unease lingered in her heart, like a piece of chewing gum stuck to the sole of her foot—she couldn't shake it off or untangle it. The fox-man's gaze was so strange; it wasn't pity, nor mockery, but rather something like…farewell?
"Strange..." Shen Mi muttered to himself, shaking off the jumbled thoughts in his mind, and continued walking upwards.
Halfway there, Chen Mi was exhausted, but she still hadn't seen the entrance, Qingqiu Terrace. She walked to the shade of a tree, put the ice spring aside, and sat on a rock to rest for a while. She kept fanning herself with her hand over the ice spring, and the coolness emanating from the water bottle temporarily slowed down her sweating. However, her arms were also a little sore from lack of exercise during this period.
After sitting for a while, Chen Mi picked up the Lin Yuan Ice Spring again, stepped onto the stone steps, and headed towards the location displayed on his phone.
The stone steps wound upwards, each one steeper than the last. Chen Mi, carrying the Lin Yuan Ice Spring, had fingers that were already red from being squeezed. There was no shade along this stretch of road; the plants were all blocked outside the stone railings, with only the occasional tall one offering a little bit of shelter.
There was no one along the way, except for the occasional low chirping of foxes in the woods, as if they were discussing the arrival of a newcomer, or perhaps some kind of gentle and distant guidance. Chen Mi walked slowly, sweat streaming down his back, his clothes already sticking to his body, his whole being exuding a kind of exhaustion as if he had been steamed.
"Oh my god, it's so hot!" Shen Mi thought to herself. She was almost too tired to walk anymore, and she hadn't even seen a glimpse of Qingqiu Terrace.
She glanced down at her phone; the location was still active, but Qingqiu Terrace was still nowhere to be seen. She was clearly heading in this direction, and the route was getting shorter, so why hadn't she arrived yet? She felt a little frustrated and began to doubt if she had taken the wrong turn.
But the path doesn't branch out, and it seems there's no other choice but to go forward.
She waved her phone in the air, and the full signal strength immediately turned gray.
Shen Mi was shocked and quickly took a closer look. Indeed, as she saw, there was no signal at all.
My God, misfortune never comes singly. Chen Mi was on the verge of tears; where could she possibly go in such a vast place as Suiyuan?
Just then, a person wearing a straw hat and a raincoat appeared in front of her. Shen Mi was about to go forward to ask the person for directions when she saw that the person ignored her and walked straight ahead as if he had not seen her at all. His body was as cold as ice. She wanted to hurry up and catch up to ask him, but her feet seemed to be frozen and she could not move an inch.
Shen Mi looked at the quiet surroundings. He didn't know when the cicadas and birds had stopped chirping, and there was no sound of wind. It was as if he had suddenly gone deaf, but he could still hear his own voice.
She had a bad feeling; could it be that she had encountered some kind of ghost wall?
My mind kept racing, wondering if that person who had just passed by was a ghost...
Her heart skipped a beat, and the hairs on her body stood on end.
Shen Mi pinched her arm hard, trying to regain feeling in her body, but the stiffness of her body, as if she had fallen into an ice cave, still hadn't dissipated. She felt as if her feet were rooted to the ground, and she was completely nailed to the spot.
"No way... I'm from 21st-century socialism, after all. These kinds of things only happen in supernatural tales, right? Don't believe rumors, don't spread rumors..." She gritted her teeth and muttered to herself, her voice so soft it was as if she were only listening to herself.
Her response was a chilling stillness, a harbinger of an approaching storm.
She looked back along the path she had come from, but the person in the straw raincoat was nowhere to be seen. There was no one in front of her, not even a footprint, as if no one had ever passed by.
A gray figure appeared again in the distance. It was the stranger in the raincoat from before, walking straight towards her, as if he had locked onto his target.
Shen Mi was so frightened that he stood frozen in place, not daring to move an inch.
When she was in school, around fourteen or fifteen years old, while her classmates were screaming with great interest at horror and thriller movies, Chen Mi didn't dare to lift her head. She could only concentrate on her homework. Occasionally, she would look up out of curiosity because of strange sounds in the movies, and each time she would be caught off guard and frightened by the bloody scenes.
Even though the movies are all fictional and all the stories are fabricated, Shen Mi still doesn't dare to watch them.
She is afraid of paranormal events.
So when she saw the figure that had disappeared a few minutes earlier suddenly appear in front of her and walk straight toward her, it was no less than the arrival of Sadako.
"You can't see me, you can't see me..."
Shen Mi crouched down, burying his face in his hands, his eyes tightly closed, and kept repeating the four words above.
The woman in the straw raincoat walked over, looking puzzled. From a distance, you could hear her muttering something to herself.
I ignored her earlier because I suspected that all the scenes before me were some kind of illusion set up by the fox people. It wasn't until I got further away that I realized that I was probably a short-lived species who had mistakenly entered an illusion.
I initially thought of ignoring it, but then I realized that if I left it unattended, they might never be able to get out before they died of old age.
So he turned around and slowly walked back the way he came.
The closer he got, the clearer he could hear what she was saying. He never expected that he would be seen as the embodiment of a "ghost" in her eyes. He wondered if she was really that scary. But then he thought of something else and couldn't help but laugh at himself. His body, stained with the blood and bones of the demon, was indeed a monster, immortal and indestructible.
Shen Mi opened her eyes and looked up, only to see the man in the straw raincoat standing in front of her. His face was expressionless, except for his pair of blood-gold eyes, which were as deep as an ancient well.
Shen Mi's eyes widened suddenly, so surprised that he couldn't utter a single word.
"What did you want to say when you called me?" he asked in a low voice, which was a little hoarse and carried the heavy feeling of damp wind and rain in the mountains.
Shen Mi stood up and swallowed hard. "I would like to ask how to get to Qingqiu Terrace."
After a few seconds of silence, Suoyi Ren asked in confusion, "This place is full of traps and illusions. Why are you, a short-lived creature, running into the territory of the fox people?"
Shen Mi dared not tell him directly who she was going to see. Dan Ren and Shen Mi were already sworn enemies, and she could not let the conflict escalate until she figured out a way to make them get along harmoniously. In desperation, Shen Mi lied and said that she was going to Qingqiu Terrace to deliver water.
Fortunately, Suoyi Ren didn't suspect anything, and just muttered to himself, "Has Luofu really fallen to this level? Half-grown kids are running around making money instead of studying."
Shen Mi smiled awkwardly, lowered his head, and fidgeted with the hem of his clothes without replying.
The man in the straw raincoat seemed to have no intention of asking further questions. He simply raised his hand and pulled down the brim of his raincoat to cover half of his eyes. He turned around and said, "You've come at a bad time. The road ahead has just collapsed, and the mechanisms have been disturbed. It's not safe to go the way we came."
"Then, what should we do?" Shen Mi was stunned.
He paused, as if weighing his options, and after a long while said, "Keep up."
Shen Mi's heart tightened, and he subconsciously took half a step back.
The man in the raincoat didn't turn around, but said calmly, "You don't have to follow. We'll see if you're willing to keep company with the ghosts and monsters in this forest tonight."
Chen Mi: "..."
She hurried after him, gritting her teeth and comforting herself—his current appearance was much "gentler" than the image of him in her memory, a man fallen into demonic possession amidst flashing swords and bloodshed. At most, he was just a little gloomy, a little quieter, and a little more sarcastic.
They walked one after the other. Chen Mi tried to determine the direction, but the fog was so thick that even the outline of the bluestone underfoot was vaguely blurred. The man in the straw raincoat, however, seemed to know the way well. He went around an ancient tree with vines covering the sky, climbed up, and pushed aside the branches to reveal a hidden path.
"Going around this way will save you 35 minutes of walking time."
Shen Mi gave a soft "oh" and quietly memorized the route.
Thinking of what Ren had just said, "The road ahead has just collapsed," Chen Mi couldn't help but ponder.
He came from Qingqiu Terrace, and he knew better than anyone whether there were fox people there.
If he had connections, wouldn't his lie about "delivering water" fall apart? But if he didn't, why would he take a detour for him? It seemed like Ren wasn't exactly a helpful person.
She stole a glance at the figure ahead. He was tall and straight, with broad shoulders and a stern back. His back was as cold and austere as if it had been carved by a knife and axe. In this misty forest, he was like a solitary rock, standing motionless and silent.
Shen Mi felt a sudden tightness in his chest.
"Give me."
She was startled and subconsciously asked, "What?"
Ren raised his hand and pointed to the box of water she was carrying: "Give me the water."
Shen Mi subconsciously tightened his fingers, his knuckles turning white, and asked in a trembling voice, "W-what do you need water for?"
Ren frowned slightly: "Can you carry this up there?"
She followed his gaze and realized that they had reached the base of the tree. The branches were thick and straight, making it difficult to climb if they were carrying something.
"Oh, oh..." Shen Mi nodded quickly, letting out a sigh of relief, but before she could fully relax, her heart tightened suddenly—
This box of water is Lin Yuan Ice Spring. If he opens it and sees the name of this water, what if he is overcome by the sight and his demonic energy takes effect?
Chen Mi stood frozen in place, his mind racing, rapidly simulating emergency response plans.
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Author's Note: Here we go! Guess if there'll be a love triangle scene later on? [doge][doge][doge]
If anyone in the comments section wants a more sensational name, please contact me. I asked my friend to help me come up with a few:
1. Feasibility report on becoming the Sea King in Beng Tie
2. The days of being a master of impartiality in Bengtie
...
Feel free to comment if you have any other ideas, muah! [kiss][kiss][kiss][kiss]
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